North Korea (Superthread)

[CougarKing]

Daily Mail

Kim Jong-un 'ordered his aunt be poisoned because she complained when her husband was executed'

Defector claims Kim Jong-un ordered his aunt Kim Kyong Hui be poisoned
She was wife of leader's uncle Jang Song Thaek, who was executed in 2013
Jang was killed, reportedly by firing squad, on charges including treason
Aunt was poisoned because she complained about execution, it's claimed

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[CougarKing]

Another day, another execution in North Korea...

Reuters

North Korea executes defense chief on treason charges: South Korean media

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea has executed its defense chief on treason charges after he fell asleep at an event attended by leader Kim Jong Un, South Korean media quoted Seoul's National Intelligence Service as saying in a briefing to lawmakers on Wednesday.

North Korean Defense Minister Hyon Yong Chol was purged and then executed by firing squad, media reported.

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[OldSolduer]

Another day, another execution in North Korea...

Reuters

And I thought the Soviets were nasty.....

 

[jollyjacktar]

How they did it made me blurt out a laugh (poor taste I know  :-[).  The CBC is reporting it was by anti-aircraft fire.  At least he went out with a bang.

And from the Daily Mail, it suggests it's a common theme as of late.  Daily Mail story

 

[chanman]

Dealing with North Korea by force is not a sure thing, even for China.

The geography is daunting; Korea is a peninsula.

                   

The only 'land' border is, in fact, a large river. The Yalu is a formidable obstacle and the Chinese road/rail network in Heilongjiang, Jilin and Liaoning provinces, while much improved, is not as extensive and well developed as in other, more populated regions. A good logistical tail would be essential because the DPRK military is large and might not collapse at the first sign of Chinese regulars.

Xi Jinping is, I think, a traditionalist; if I'm correct he will eschew conventional war, considering it only as a last resort, and will try to defeat North Korea by any other means. For the moment, the DPRK is as much a useful tool as it is a problem. The "trick" for Kim Jung Un's government is to maintain that balance.

Edited to add:

Further to the above, Ray Kwong, a well connected journalist/teacher/entrepreneur suggests that Korea may have a good stock of nuclear weapons ...

         

                    ... even the low end estimate (guesstimate?) is enough to make even the Chinese think twice.

There has to be a better way ...

Makes me wonder about all those recently acquired amphibious assets the PLAN's been acquiring. North Korea's arable land is concentrated on their western coast. Putting it in the hands of a friendly faction would let them starve out the uncooperative factions... but the it could also be a staggering humanitarian disaster if the dispute isn't quickly resolved. Famine is possibly the most efficient means of mass murder, whether deliberate (Stalin and the Ukraine, Armenian genocide, etc.) or accidental (Great Leap Forward)

 

[CougarKing]

North Korea actually enacting the same kind of economic reforms enacted under Deng Xiaoping in 1980s China?

Diplomat

How Is North Korea's Economy Doing?
A recent report suggests North Korea’s economy is making progress. Can we know for sure?

Is North Korea’s dilapidated economy on the rise? And if so, does that mean better living standards for ordinary North Koreans? The answer to both seems to be “yes,” according to a report released Sunday by the Congressional Research Service.

Modest economic growth has improved conditions for a segment of the population, according to media accounts of the report. As per usual procedure, the think tank of the U.S. legislature did not make the report public.

The sunnier economic conditions can be attributed to limited agricultural and labor reforms introduced by the regime of Kim Jong-un, the report argues. In a break from its communist past, the government now allows farmers to keep a portion of their harvest and empowers managers to make some hiring and firing decisions.

Reports of growing wealth in North Korea aren’t new. Travelers to the capital Pyongyang, especially, have noted the emergence of relatively affluent middle class in recent years.

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[CougarKing]

An update on that Canadian pastor being held in North Korea:

Reuters

North Korea shows captive Canadian pastor confessing before congregation

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea released video footage on Monday of a Canadian pastor confessing before a Pyongyang church congregation that he had committed crimes against the state.

Hyeon Soo Lim, of the 3,000-member Light Korean Presbyterian Church in Toronto, traveled to North Korea in January this year on a routine humanitarian visit. He has been detained since February.

Dressed in a dark blue suit and tie and speaking to a sparse congregation which included some foreign residents of Pyongyang, South Korean-born Lim appeared to be reading from a script.

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[CougarKing]

A couple of years ago we heard about that North Korean ship, carrying weapons to and from Cuba, that was stopped in Panama. Now we have this:

Associated Press/Canadian Press

North Korea ship held in Mexico sought for seizure in rare $330 million legal win
The Canadian Press
By Cara Anna, The Associated Press

Winning a lawsuit against North Korea is rare. Collecting millions of dollars in damages from the isolated country? Pretty much impossible. But an Israel-based civil rights group thinks it has found a way, starting with a North Korean ship that's been held, against Pyongyang's wishes, in a Mexican port for the past year.

The effort illustrates the challenges of holding North Korea to account in more ways than one.

The Shurat HaDin law centre began its pursuit after winning a $330 million U.S. District Court judgment in April over the abduction of a South Korean-born pastor in China and his presumed torture and killing in North Korea 15 years ago. Now the centre is aiming for whatever North Korean assets it can find.

It has focused on the Mu Du Bong, a cargo ship that accidentally ran aground off Mexico last July. Despite North Korea's protests, a panel of experts that monitors U.N. sanctions against Pyongyang for its nuclear and missile programs asked the Mexican government not to release it.

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[CougarKing]

;D Anyone want a "man purse" from an executed defence minister?

Reuters

Made in North Korea: goods store opens to brisk business in Seoul
Reuters

By Hooyeon Kim
SEOUL (Reuters) - A shop in South Korea's capital specializing in goods made in the North has run nearly $140,000 through its tills in just three months of business, helping dispel the notion that products from the impoverished state are shoddy and undesirable.

The Kaesong Industrial Complex Shop opened in May showcasing North Korea and the skills of its workers, to present the country as a viable business partner to the prosperous South.

"North Korean employees are young and are fast learners, and we use materials from the South. So the quality is just as good as products of South Korean brands, at relatively lower prices," said shop vice president Lee Joung-duk.

Lee is president of Young Inner Foam Corp, one of 125 firms from the South operating in Kaesong. The industrial zone was set up by the two Koreas in 2003 a few kilometers north of their armed border, and now employs about 53,000 North Koreans.

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[CougarKing]

Another day, another high-level execution in North Korea:

Yahoo News

North Korea Vice Premier Choe Yong-Gon ‘Executed For Opposing Kim Jong-Un’

Yahoo News – 1 hour 18 minutes ago

North Korea has reportedly executed its vice premier for voicing opposition to the country’s leader, Kim Jong-Un.

Choe Yong-Gon, seen above on the right talking with Bahk Byong-won, the vice finance minister of South Korea, was said to have been killed by firing squad in May this year after he spoke out against Kim Jong-Un’s forestry policies.

An anonymous source made the claims to a South Korean intelligence agency.

While the 63-year-old’s death is yet to be verified, his name has not been mentioned in North Korea state media since October last year.

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[CougarKing]

Is Kim Jong Un inching to take the plunge to try to conquer the South when his father Kim Jong Il merely sabre-rattled and his grandfather Kim Il Sung was fought to a standstill during the last Korean War?

Reuters

North Korea orders troops on war footing after exchange of fire with South
Thu Aug 20, 2015 11:15pm EDT

By Ju-min Park and Tony Munroe

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ordered his troops onto a war footing from 5 p.m on Friday after Pyongyang issued an ultimatum to Seoul to halt anti-North propaganda broadcasts by Saturday afternoon or face military action.

Tension on the divided peninsula escalated on Thursday when North Korea fired shells into South Korea to protest against the loudspeaker broadcasts from the Korean border. The South responded with its own artillery barrage.

Both sides said there were no casualties or damage in their territory.

The North's shelling came after it had demanded last weekend that South Korea end the broadcasts or face military action - a relatively rare case of it following up on its frequent threats against the South.

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[Lumber]

I'm going to go with Sabre-rattling.

I'm no expert on North Korean politics and internal affairs, but I have a feeling that there are a lot of people in high places with a lot more to lose from a war than they have to gain. They'll keep the little whippersnapper on a leash.

 

[George Wallace]

I'm no expert on North Korean politics and internal affairs, but I have a feeling that there are a lot of people in high places with a lot more to lose from a war than they have to gain. They'll keep the little whippersnapper on a leash.

I think; if you check back to recent events, that 'young whippersnapper' has held a few firing squads using Anti-Aircraft guns with many of those 'people in high places' standing out front in the 'receiving line'.

 

[a_majoor]

From CNN:

http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/21/asia/koreas-tensions/

Paju, South Korea (CNN)—The United States suspended, then resumed joint military exercises with South Korea this week after North Korea fired artillery shells across the Demilitarized Zone, Assistant Secretary of Defense David Shear told reporters Friday.

The news of the pause, which happened Thursday, according to Shear, came as stern warnings flew back and forth across the border on the day before a North-imposed deadline for the South to shut off propaganda broadcasts or face war.

"We suspended part of the exercise temporarily in order to allow our side to coordinate with the ROK (Republic of Korea) side on the subject of the exchange fire across the DMZ," Shear said "And the exercise is being conducted now according to plan."

On Friday, Kim Jong Un, the supreme commander of the North Korean military, ordered front-line units along the heavily fortified frontier to move to a war footing, state media reported.

His nuclear-armed regime, known for being both thin-skinned and fond of saber rattling, has warned South Korea it faces military action if it doesn't turn off the propaganda loudspeakers by Saturday evening.

"The situation of the country is now inching closer to the brink of war," Ji Jae Ryong, North Korean ambassador to China, told journalists in Beijing on Friday. He blamed South Korea for the situation.

That doesn't necessarily mean war really is imminent: North Korea has used similar language in the past without hostilities breaking out. But South Korean Defense Minister Han Min-koo said Friday that North Korea was pushing the tensions "to the utmost level."

"North Korea's offensive action is a despicable crime that breaks a ceasefire agreement and the non-aggression treaty between North and South," Han said in an address broadcast on South Korean television.

"If North Korea continues on provoking, our military -- as we have already warned -- will respond sternly, and end the evil provocations of North Korea," he said, adding the country is working closely with the United States.

As the verbal sniping continued, the South's President, Park Geun-hye, visited troops at a base south of Seoul, receiving a briefing from military officials on the latest situation, her office said.

Tensions on the Korean Peninsula have been escalating since two South Korean soldiers were seriously wounded by landmines August 4 in the Demilitarized Zone.

South Korea and the U.S.-led U.N. Command in Korea concluded North Korea planted the mines on a patrol route in the southern part of the zone.

North Korea has denied responsibility and refused South Korean demands for an apology.

Seoul's response was to resume cross-border propaganda broadcasts last week for the first time in more than a decade, a move virtually guaranteed to anger the regime in Pyongyang.

Sure enough, North Korea announced last weekend that the broadcasts were a declaration of war and threatened to blow up the loudspeakers.

On Thursday, South Korean officials said the North fired artillery shells over the Demilitarized Zone that separates the two countries. The South fired back several dozen shells of its own, according to the Defense Ministry.

No casualties were reported by either side.

South Korean officials said some residents of the area targeted by North Korea on Thursday had to be evacuated, although many have since returned.

A U.S. official told CNN that North Korea was believed to be targeting a loudspeaker position.
History of disputes


It's not the first time that the two sides have briefly traded blows in recent years. They notably exchanged artillery fire over their disputed maritime border in 2010 and machine-gun fire over land in October.

But Thursday's clash was unusual because of the type of weapons used around the Demilitarized Zone, said Alison Evans, a senior analyst at IHS Country Risk.

"Cross-border attacks have mainly involved small-arms fire or, as in October 2014, anti-aircraft heavy machine guns," she said. "In contrast, there have been frequent exchanges of artillery and rocket fire across the Northern Limit Line (NLL), the de facto maritime border."

Amid the heightened tensions, North Korea's connection to the global Internet went down twice Friday, according to Dyn Research, a U.S-based private Internet-monitoring service. North Korea's Internet access last went down August 10 for 4 ½ hours, according to Dyn Research. The cause of the disruption was not immediately clear.

Is situation likely to escalate?

The question now is whether the situation will escalate further.

North Korea has used similarly alarming language in previous periods of high tension

In 2013, the country announced it had entered "a state of war" with South Korea. That situation didn't result in military action, although North Korea did temporarily shut down the two countries' joint industrial zone, which lies on its side of the border.

During that period, North Korea kept up a barrage of bombastic threats against the United States, South Korea and Japan. But at the same time, it continued accepting tourists and hosting international athletes in Pyongyang for a marathon.

South Korea said Friday that it was limiting the number of its citizens entering the joint industrial zone, but the complex was still operating. There are currently 83 South Koreans in Pyongyang attending a youth soccer event, including players and coaches, according to the South Korean Unification Ministry.

Jamie Metzl, an Asia expert for the Atlantic Council in New York, said he thought it was unlikely that the current crisis would escalate further.

"North Korea has more to gain from conflict theater than from a conflict that would quickly expose its fundamental weakness," he said, suggesting leaders in Pyongyang might be trying to "make trouble because they feel ignored by the international community and feel they have something to gain negotiating their way out of a mini-crisis."

But other analysts said the situation could still continue to deteriorate.

The shelling Thursday "raises questions frankly about Kim Jong Un's style of making tension, provocations, escalation -- and whether he knows how to control escalation," said Michael Green, an Asia specialist at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

U.S., China, urge calm
Related Video: Rare look inside Korea's demilitarized zone 02:40

A spokeswoman for China's Foreign Ministry said Friday that the country is "paying great attention to the situation" and is "willing to work with all parties toward the peace and stability of the peninsula."

"We urge relevant parties to remain calm and restrained, use meetings and dialogue to properly handle the current situation, and stop any action that could escalate the tensions," spokeswoman Hua Chunying said.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is "deeply concerned" about the situation, spokesman Eri Kaneko said.

The United States, which has roughly 28,000 troops stationed in South Korea, said it, too, is closely monitoring the situation.

"As we've said before, these kinds of provocative actions only heighten tensions," State Department spokesman John Kirby said Thursday, referring to the North Korean shelling. "And we call on Pyongyang to refrain from actions and rhetoric that threaten regional peace and security."

He said that Washington and Seoul are coordinating closely and that the United States "remains steadfast in its commitment to the defense, the security of the peninsula, to our alliance with South Korea."

North Korea has also expressed anger recently over previously planned joint military exercises this week involving tens of thousands of U.S. and South Korean troops.

Pyongyang has said it views such drills as a prelude to an invasion. Seoul and Washington have repeatedly dismissed North Korean requests to call off joint exercises in recent years.

CNN's Kathy Novak reported from Paju, South Korea, and Jethro Mullen reported and wrote from Hong Kong. CNN's K.J. Kwon, Barbara Starr, Brian Todd and Don Melvin and journalist Jung-eun Kim contributed to this report.

 

[cupper]

Correct me if I am wrong, but I don't recall hearing much about his father actually lobbing rockets or shells into the south. A lot of heavy posturing, shots traded across the DMZ, but nothing like the dude with the stupid haircut.

This could get out of control if there is no one who can reign him in, or provide sound guidance that gives him a way to back off but claim a huge victory over the imperialist running dogs.

Or convince him to inspect the barrel of the AA guns used to execute the former higher ups.

 

[CougarKing]

Correct me if I am wrong, but I don't recall hearing much about his father actually lobbing rockets or shells into the south. A lot of heavy posturing, shots traded across the DMZ, but nothing like the dude with the stupid haircut

If you read my post carefully, you'll see that I was talking about both his father and grandfather. Kim Il Sung was the one who led the 1950 invasion of the South.

And speaking about Kim Jong Il the father of Kim Jong Un, if I can recall correctly the South Korean Navy corvette ROKS Cheonan was torpedoed and sunk during his time.

 

[cupper]

If you read my post carefully, you'll see that I was talking about both his father and grandfather. Kim Il Sung was the one who led the 1950 invasion of the South.

And speaking about Kim Jong Il the father of Kim Jong Un, if I can recall correctly the South Korean Navy corvette ROKS Cheonan was torpedoed and sunk during his time.

I did get the points in your post re: Kim Il Sung and Kim Jung Il.

I had thought that the sinking of the Cheonan took place after Kim Jung Il had died. Same with the shelling of Yeonpyeong Island. So I guess insanity is in the genes, just gets more unstable with each generation.

 

[tomahawk6]

The NORK''s have sallied their antiquated sub force[as many as 50] and now its claimed that we have "lost contact".That should amp things up a bit.

 

[CougarKing]

More on what T6 stated above:

Diplomat

North Korea Is Deploying Largest Submarine Fleet Since Korean War
About 70 percent of Pyongyang’s submarines have left their homeports and are nowhere to be found.

L1001025
By Franz-Stefan Gady
August 24, 2015

Over 50 North Korean submarines have left their homeports, according to a local media report. “Seventy percent of North Korea’s submarines left their bases, and their locations are not confirmed,” a South Korean military official told Yonhap News.

According to South Korean military officials, this constitutes the largest deployment of North Korean submarines since the end of the Korean War. U.S. and South Korean aircraft as well as naval vessels have so far unsuccessfully tried to locate the subs, making it difficult to ascertain whether their deployment is just a show of force, or whether they have received specific instructions to target South Korean shipping in the event of an escalation. “No one knows. We are mobilizing all our surveillance resources,” said a South Korean military spokesperson.

“This is a typical North Korean tactic of talking on one hand and brandishing military power on the other to try to force their way,” he added. After an escalation of tensions last week (See: “North Korea is Mobilizing For War”), Seoul and Pyongyang are currently engaged in their first high-level talks since February 2014 (See: “Amid ‘Quasi State of War,’ North, South Korea Hold First High-Level Talks in a Year”) with little progress so far.

While Pyongyang’s subs recently made headlines with the testing of  a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM), North Korea’s submarine force purportedly consists of 70 mostly obsolete boats, primarily used for coastal defense and reconnaissance operations, with limited capability for more offensive anti-ship operations (partially mostly due to lack of long-range air cover). The Korean People’s Navy (KPN) is believed to possess 20 Romeo-class vessels, 1,800-ton diesel-electric subs based on 1950s Soviet technology; 40,370 tons home-built  Sang-O-class diesel-electric submarines specifically designed for the insertion of special operation forces into the South but also capable of laying mines and conducting antisurface warfare; and approximately ten 130-ton Yono-class midget submarines.

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[CougarKing]

More U.S. assets on their way to discourage Pyongyang from escalating this further:

US ready to deploy B-52 bombers to South Korea amid escalating crisis with North Korea


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Although the Defense Ministry spokesman did not say which U.S. assets are being considered for deployment in the region, sources cited by the South Korean Yohap New Agency suggested that the U.S. forces might include the B-52 Stratofortress bombers, and a nuclear-powered submarine currently stationed in Yokosuka, Japan.

Read more: Business Insider

http://www.businessinsider.com/us-r...-crisis-with-north-korea-2015-8#ixzz3jkUzyDnZ